Topic: ++++MDB’s Birmingham Balti Gravy 100% Clone Al Frash Balti Restaurant ++++

[livo]

I'm afraid I'm with Santa. The gravy part makes a good gravy but the curry is missing the most important thing. Flavour. Even bumped up with a big heaped tsp of Madras curry paste (loveitspicy, aka backyard chef) it was still needing more. I also made a butter chicken with 1 tbsp of Pataks commercial paste, tomato puree, cream and kasoori methi and it was also still wanting for more.  Nice edible dishes but not what I was hoping for after reading the reviews.

I made half quantity gravy with all spices rounded upwards or barely reduced at all, so I didn't skimp on anything. Good gravy but you still need to use a full BIR recipe to use it.

[Secret Santa]

A couple of things I am considering tweaking is:

I did find the 3 pot method a bit of a faff. Certainly if I did this again I wouldn't faff about making a separate akhni stock. Instead I'd bundle the spices in a bit of muslin cloth and just throw that in with the onions. And maybe fry off the garlic/ginger paste in the onion pot and then add the water, onions etc. I don't think it would impact the flavour at all. Actually, thinking about it, I'm wondering if it wouldn't be simpler to just leave out the akhni stock and instead dump a teaspoon or so of garam masala and some ground cassia in right at the end of cooking.

In previous versions I have adjusted the powdered spices upwards and to be honest they just kill it stone dead.

Its more to do with the aromatics as SS says ie whole spices

It must be to do with what we're used to in our "normal" curries. Having just made the curry again but this time with a teaspoon of plain curry powder and a teaspoon of chilli powder, it made a much rounder, more full-bodied curry that was quite enjoyable.

Thank you again Bob for your positive comments - to my taste it is exactly like the Baltis I have eaten.
Quite mild with a great depth of flavour. Too much chilli would mask all of that imo.

Ok so we'll have to agree to disagree on the "great depth of flavour" but tell me, what do the balti houses do if you want vindaloo strength balti? Or is that not a thing? This is all quite interesting to me as, despite being a Brummie born and bred, I can't recall ever having had an "authentic" balti, so I'm not qualified to judge.

Its a completely different animal to a vindaloo for sure!

In fact its a completely different animal from any other curry any way

Yes, no argument there. Although, on the assumption I actually made it right, I'm a little perplexed as to why it ever caught on.

[Secret Santa]

I'm afraid I'm with Santa.

I think you're in the same boat as me. You have to have been brought up on baltis for it to impress, and neither of us have.

[George]

In fact its a completely different animal from any other curry any way

Interesting comment. That was my thought when I visited Shababs (twice) and had their chicken balti. So I think it bodes well for your recipe and Misty Ricardo's.

[Secret Santa]

Interesting comment. That was my thought when I visited Shababs (twice) and had their chicken balti. So I think it bodes well for your recipe and Misty Ricardo's.

Come on George, less talking, more doing.

As you've actually tasted the real thing I'm interested to hear your feedback.

[mickdabass]

Hi George
Thanks for the positive comment. I look forward to reading your verdict. Just one thing: who is the moderator for this page as I would like to tweak my recipe slightly ie rounded tsp powdered spices and breaking up cassia into 1" max lengths ?

SS You're right about the muslim cloth, but I thought with the large amount of cassia used, it would be more practical to make the akhni stock instead of adding a muslim football to the pan.
Ground cassia - theres an idea. Can you buy it pre ground? I only have a mortar & pestle so washing an extra pan is less of a faff to me than bashing seven shades of s**t out with a m&p

Livo you are also correct - I am not a Vindaloo man A madras is about as much as I can handle- Im too much of a wimp to manage one. Anyway isnt a vindaloo simply a bog standard curry with a couple of pieces of spud in it, a slice of lemon and a shed load of chilli/naga paste etc?  Idk. Im sure that logically a vindaloo Balti is just a balti with the above additions? No need to worry about depth of flavour as the taste of the chilli would mask that out - well it would for me anyway as Id be too busy crying in the dunny etc. 

Thank goodness we are all different Ebony & Ivory peace & love etc
Oh by the way I dont class a Korma as a curry either so perhaps theres hope for me yet!!

Kind Regards

Mick

[livo]

I didn't have a problem with 3 pots. My lasagne is 3 big pots and way more mess. Just so you know, my cassia bark was all the broken bits from the bottom of the container.  I don't think the base gravy part is the issue at all. In fact it's a good gravy. I'm not a vindaloo person either and I enjoy flavoursome, but not hot, curries.  I can eat vindaloo but I prefer to limit heat to madras level.  I'm sure I'll make a good balti with my home made balti paste, although I'll definitely be pre-cooking the chicken.

[Peripatetic Phil]

who is the moderator for this page as I would like to tweak my recipe slightly ie rounded tsp powdered spices and breaking up cassia into 1" max lengths ?

Onions is your man, Mick.

Ground cassia - theres an idea. Can you buy it pre ground? I only have a mortar & pestle so washing an extra pan is less of a faff to me than bashing seven shades of s**t out with a m&p

Possibly worth trying a £9.99 Lidl coffee grinder — I've yet to find anything with which mine can't cope ...
--
** Phil.

[Secret Santa]

I didn't have a problem with 3 pots.

Well that's my engineering mindset going into optimisation mode. I wanted to do it per the instructions but as I was making it I could see that I could get away with a two pot method and as I thought a bit more I could envisage getting it all done in one pot. At that point the three pot method became a faff.

[Secret Santa]

Possibly worth trying a £9.99 Lidl coffee grinder — I've yet to find anything with which mine can't cope ...

I've got a £9 no-name "grinder" off eBay that has stood me in good stead for a few years. The problem is that it's actually a chopper because it's got blades. As good as that is for certain things it can never make a powder as fine as shop bought powders. For that it has to actually grind not cut. Is your Lidl version a grinder or a chopper?